LONDON (Reuters) - A 12-year-old British boy appeared in court Wednesday charged with assault for throwing a sausage at a pensioner, police said.

The boy’s mother described the decision to charge her son as “an absolute joke,” although police said they had no choice.

The youth, who can’t be named, was arrested after a 74-year-old man reported him to police for throwing a stone in Manchester, northern England.

The object turned out to be a cocktail sausage.

“Charging was the only option because the boy had previously been issued with three reprimands on separate occasions,” a Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said.

Police and prosecutors have launched a joint review of the case after a judge at Manchester Youth Court reportedly urged them to reconsider.

“If he has done what was suggested it is very bad behavior,” District Judge Tim Devas was reported as saying in the Manchester Evening News. “But is it in the public interest to prosecute a 12-year-old boy who threw a sausage?”